barry goldwar and rona rean behind. democrats, pay attention. this is your chance to build a party back up to thagrand coalition of the new deal and new frontier years. why on earth wouldn't you? that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed hult st r n good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show" from new york. 41 days until the 2012 election and only seven days until the first presidential debate. mittomney is telling nbc news, the race is tied. really? , gh'linuc thromney campaign to the concept of arithmetic. this is "the ed show," let's get to wk. >> president obama and i both care about poor and middle class families. the difference is, my policies will make things better for them. >> mitt mney is still trying america isn't buying it. tonight, e.j. dionne on today's disastrous new poll numbers for

republans. an ohio democratic party chair, chris redford, on mitt romney's failure to dot the "i" in e bucke ste. >> it's not consistent with our polling, steve. >> the romney campaign has officially joined the poll truthers. tonight, we will debunk the republican alternate reality. >> there is a fundamental error going in the polling this ar by the mediorganization >> and there's more fallout from senator scott brown's race-baiting campaign. we'll have the latest from boston. and the star of tv's "dirty jobs" gets his direst job yet. ikweas you know, well, he's a guy who has made a name for himself by doing things other pele don't want to do. really ugly, dirty jobs. like standing with a politician. >> i'll explain why mike rowe was standing on the wronstage th the wrong candida today

>> good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. no republican candidate has ever lost ohio and won the presidency. mitt romney is on the verge of becoming yet anoth victim of this statistic. ohio's 18 electoral votes are vital to romnes chances of winning in nembe mitromney loses ohio, he's going to have to win all six swing states where the president currently leads. the president's lead in ohio is starting to lookominant. in a fox news poll, president obama leads by seven points. a "washington postpoll puts the presidt up by eight points ino. d the most recent poll by cbs and "the new york times" has president obama leading by ten points. romney was in ohio today, making a new pitch to voters. he's the guy who understands their pain. >> the a so many iour coy aur r i want to help them. i know what it takes to get an economy going again and creating jobs. >> voters in ohio don't believe romney on this front at all. when it comes to the economy,

51% of ohio voters say they trust president obama against 45% of voters who trust mitt romney. obama has an advantage on the economy in ohio, because basically, this state is a national success story when it comes to the economy. listen to mitt romney's ohio surrogate, governor john kasich. doesn't sound like there's much reason for ohio terso make a ange >> you know, i hope you all know that ohio's coming back from 48th in job creation to number four, number one in the midwest. from9 cents and a rainy day fund to $5 million, and we have grown 123,000 jobs in the state of ohio. our families are going back to work. >> governor kasich, you forgot to tell us where you stood on that automobile thing that was kind of big in your state, one in eight jobs are connected to the automobile industry, which, of course, president obama helped out witthe tomobile loan, which all you republicans can't stand.

things are great, so vote for mitt romney, right? i don't think so. todaromney launched a new ad campaign. according to the "washington post," greg sargent, this new 60-second television ad, well, it's goingo replace all english-language romney ads in nine states. it's another attempt to soften romney's image. >> president obama and i both care about poor and middle class families. the difference is, my policies will make things better for them. he'sticking ufor idob that's kind of cool, isn't it? romney hopes this video will have an impact. but there's another video affecting romney's campaign in a very much bigger way. >> and so my job is not to worry about those people. i'll never convince them they should take personal respbity and care r r s. >>t is brutal. the hidden fund-raiser video where romney disparaged 47% of americans is not helping with swing voters. it's also hurting romney with his base. "the new york times" talked to a worker, kenneth myers, an

unemployed republican from ohio. romney's cments didn't sit llh s. "the last thing, where he was going on about the 47% who are dependent on the government is hard to swallow. i think i'm part of the 47% he's lking about. but i don't want to be dependent on the government." that's a pretty good indation of where that commenhas taken this campaign. e a ais if ry'mmen in television ads in ohio. it appears to be taking a toll on romney's number. the gallup tracking poll shod romney making up ground with president obama after the democratic national convention. a ek after the fund-raising deo was released by mother jones, obama has opened up a six-point lead. president obama was also in ohio today, delivering a knockout punch. and, oh, yes, he reminded ohio voters where mitt romney was when the state needed him at a ital te. >>n mypponent sa we should just let detroit go bankrupt, that would have meant

walking away from an industry that supports one in eight ohio jobs. it supports busisses in 82 of 88 ohio counties so when he said that, i said, no, i'm going to bet on america. i'm betting on american workers. >>hio's 7.2% unemployment rate is directly linked to the auto scue, the loan. romney's campaign will live to regretledetroigo bankrupt," that editorial, that of course he pinned in a detroit newspaper. according to cnn, a longtime gop strategist called obama's advantage on the automobile loan a kick in the blanks for the romney campaign. se. ie ks i think you know what he said. romney is also still struggling to undo the damage done by ads highlighting his record at bain capital. the obama campaign and super pacs flooded the airwaves in ohio with ads, pushing romney's

anti-worki manmage. onrticular awaespecially damaging. >> out of the blue one day, we were told to build a 30-foot stage, gathered the guy, and we but that 30-foot sge, not knowing what it was for. dla ahr shifts were told to assemble in the warehouse. a group of people walked out on that stage and told us that the plant is now closed and all of ttneder ired. million by shutting down our plant and devastated our lives. turns out that when we built that stage, it was like building my own coffin. >> that ad was put on the internet by iorities usa super pac, suppog the president. the ad was viewed millions of times and 60% of the views came from the state of ohio.

romney needs to turn things around in ohio, and he needs to do it in a hurry. he's rung out of time, and the buck to trend the buckeye futotol, it's going be he has never really connected with the middle class. i've said it like a broken record on this program time and time again. and later in this broadcast, we'll show you how romney is trying to connect to the middle class with this guy who does tv ads for some car outfit, and wes the hat d hahis n he standing onherong stage. we'll get to that later. get your cell phones out. i nt to know what you think. tonight's question, who's going to win ohio? text "a" for the president and text "b" for mitt romney to 622639 or go to ed.msnbc.com. joing meonige.io of "the washington post," also an msnbc contributor, and author of "our divided political heart," and chris redford joins us tonight. j., you fit. imr caaign, whetr

it's mitt romney or anybody else. how is he going to be able to do it? >> well, i think he knows he's in a hole, because thaad you showed where he said, both of us care about middle class families, that was almost d quinnipia"new york times" poll showed why. there was a question in there that asked, does obama, does romney care about the middle class, the rich, the poor, or everyone equally? most polls the that give four % the peopl osaget atte that mitt romney's policies favored the rich. by contrast, 59% said that obama's policies favored either everybody equally or the middle at 1inp. and i think the auto rescue is part of it. those bain ads are part of it. ken blackwell, the former republican secretary of state was on cnn today

and he said it was just like '04. mm andryered up kerry in the recored. and he didn't say romney will never recover, but the implication was, romney's in a heap of trble. >> chris redfern, who is the chairman of the democratic party in ohio also with us tonight. chris. a very untenable position that governor kasich is being placed in, to go t antalk abouthe economy when it's all sitive r woers, mro's had nothing to do about it. what do you make of that? >> well, it's really important to realize that the downturn in the unemployment rates in ohio began long before john kasich took office. a close look at the record, we wi reflect that the auto rescue ce long before john kasich had chatoe tus rn and the commitment that the president made to middle income earners in places like toledo, a location that mitt romney stopped today and didn't even mention jeep -- >> so you're on a roll. the democrats in ohiare on a ll. erconfident right now? it's almost like you're running

up the score. >> well, we're going to try to get every vote out. there's 11.5 million ohioness and every vote will count, but the old ade, only poll that matters is election night, that's not true. it's a week from night where every vote begs inarne. anwe'liv5 io democrats and independents to the polls and ensure that those votes are counted earlier and that we're well positioned in the remaining weeks of this campaign to win for the president and for the senator brown. vtan,iniee just got a pce of wi nbconen i want to play it for you and get your reaction afterwards. here it is. >> one thing you seem to have trouble convincing people of, you are the person that cares about middle class people, people are suggling. d sn kind of empathy and understanding that could really solve their problems. >> i think people had the chance who watched our republican convention to see the lives i've had a chance to touch during my life.

to undstand that i served as a pastor of a conggation with oplef dieren baouand onom circumstances. that i care very deeply about the american people and people of different socioeconomic circumstances. and i think througho this campaign as well, we've talked about my record in massachusetts. s iedrgetgoeverody 100% of the kids in our state have health insurance. i don't think there's anything that shows more empathy. >> "shows more empathy"? e., romney has gotten himself in the past of talking up his signature piece of healtcare legislatio but then he's ge thine'ing do repeal obama care. the guy continues the stumble over himself. your take on it? >> you listen to that, and the obvious question is, well, if it's such a good idea, obama adopted your plan nationally, and imagine at rush limbaugh goi to y toowut romney defending his massachusetts plan. maybe he's trying to break out of his box.

but he's in a terrible position on this. but i think the one way that romney couldarry ohio is if he gets the replacement refs to count the votes. and maybe we'll have a diffent ely.t. how can he care about people, care about workers when he has them build the stage, when they announce that they're taking over the company, and oh, by the way, all your jobs are going overseas. that to me is a pretty tough sale. the middle class has been really s dollout e ai early voting. what's the impact it's going to have on the race? >> well, four or five years ago when early vote began, we saw that we have a better turnout operation than our republican friends. we've got operation all ross the state, and we have e rsr thco of ionships w the last couple of years. but it's really important to realize. >> you've got to know where the voting machines are going to be too. >> we know where the voters are and the voting machines are. and we know four words that mitt romney uttered that allowed us to push people to the polls. let detroit go bankrupt.

in t bucye ste bseright re barack obama stood up for those jobs. we know where the voting booths are, in places like toledo at the ymca where it's easy and great access to get to and we're going to turn out the vote. >> great to have both of you with us tonight. shyohos ter @edshow and on facebook. we would really like to get your comments on ohio. it's such a crucial state. coming up, it was not an endorsement, but mike rowe of "dirty jobs" joined mitt romney today in ohio. we'll tell you why he might not want to give the candidate, you know, too much love. in fact, he ought to take a second look, a very close look. congressman jim mcdermott joins me for the discussion. stay with us.

coming up, "dirty jobs" host mike rowe joins mitt romney on the campaign trail to discuss jobs and vocational training.

i think he campaigning with the wrong guy. scott brown's race-baiting comments aboutlizabeth warren and his suors st chs ha the cherokee nation asking the senator for an apology. and could democrats turn arizona blue this november? mney's lead in the poll is shrinking and the senate race is heating up. please share your thoughts with us on facebond on twitter ing #edsw. e right back.

welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. mitt romney held a manufacturing roundtable in bedford heights,

ohio, today and he welcomed to the age someone who was well mikeowe "dirty jobs" on the discovery channel, and you may also know him from the ford television commercials. today he shared the stage with romney without actually endorsing him. >> he is nonpartan, he not here to endorse , he not re td support to one campaign or another. he's here to talk about his ideas. >> sure. mr. rowe did offer some ideas, and he talked about the kinds of people he cares about. >> the people who keep the the toilets to work, the people who pick up roadkill, the people who paint the bridges, the people who farm, the people who mine. >> it's safe to say there is a candidate for president who cares about thosvery same people. but it's not theandidate rowe was sharing thstage with today. td t inese people back to work and so has the president of the united states.

when president obama tried to sell his jobs bill last year over the refusal of the republican congress, he talked about the kinds of people who would get those kinds of jobs. >> it'a bill that would put pe btok,uig america. repairing our roads, repairing our bridges, repairing our schools. it would lead to jobs for concrete workers like the ones here at hilltop, jobs for construction workers and masons, en, trns engineers, ironworkers. put folks back to work. >> mike roweaid part of the problem was training. and training.d on opportunity ovndver,hat's at hear, we need more opportunity and we need better training. >> once again, there is a candidate who believes in job training, who understands we need morvocational training.

>> one of the, i bve, mistakes we've made 20, 30 years ago was to start de-emphasizes vocational education. right now we've got shortages of folks in fields that need technical training, but don't necessarily require a four-yr college degree. >> mr. rowe went on to make a more subtle point about how we need as a country to appreciate the kinds of wage earners. >> opportunity and training aren't enough. you need desire. i'm talking about desire in the sense of appreciation, with the rest of us. people with dirty jobs, skilled tradesmen, they represent a fairly modest part of the population. >> oh, we know how many mitt romney views many ofhe wage rner ts cotry,au wew hiduthe 47% of american who is pay no federal income taxes. >> 47% of americans pay no income taxes.

so my job is not to worry about those people. i'll never convince them that they should take personal responbility and care for their live >> i wouldusy mr.e, glhayou nonpartisan, but i really believe that the other candidate is the one that you should be sharing the stage with, not mitt romney. joining me tonight, congressman jim mcdermott of washington. congressman, great to have you with us tonight. just for the rord,ou k i thmrwet py good guy, very successful in the television history, a good communicator, but isn't this a perfect example of how folks who are wage earners may not be paying attention to who actually is fighting for them and might even step up othe wrong stage and vo for the wrong person? your thoughts. >> well, this is a desperate attempt by romney to put a whole different spin on his campaign, to suddenly becomes someone who cares about people who do the dirty work in this society. heas swn nsymphy for

them in the past, he has shown no sympathy for their health care needs or their education needs or their employment needs. the health care's a perfect example, but there are lots of others. and they are now realizing with their numbers falling through the floor that they've got to do ourkama.g to look like they ca it is really a desperate move. >> and the democrats have been very specific in their efforts. it was president obama who was trying time and time again to come forward with a specific jobs bill for infrastructure, bs that they're talking about on the romney stage today. and i guess we have to remind americans of the kind of obstruction that was in the environment in washington. >> we went again and again and again to the floor to try and get infrastructure funding. and the republicans sily hd p. i mean, paul ryan was right in the center of it. and now you're going to make him vice president of the united states, in charge of opposing infrastructure building.

it makes no sense. the country cannot work if we don't invest both in people's education and in the intrred ey no record of it, and paul ryan has a record of being against it. so i don't see how anybody's going to vote for them. >> on the stage, the theatrics of it all and the semantics of it as well, ke rowe is up there talking abt the very ssbe cd s omney wa that fund-raiser. he can say it about them, but maybe this guy can. maybe i'll hand the crophone to this guy, this guy named mike rowe, who wears a workman's hat d sweahirtnd gs arnd and has pretty good visibility, maybe he can get up there and say that i really do care about these folks. find this of somewhat of a desperate move, the choreography of all of this. >> well, it's really based, ed, on the idea that the american pe atuaney

forget what he said last week. and now he comes with this show todaand says, no, that wasn't me last week. that -- you forget about that guy. i'm a guy who really cares abo working people. ey nise t voters are not -- about the 47% who don't pay income tax. the unemployed don't pay -- they don't pay income tax. and those people are the ones we're talking about here. >> congressman jim mcdermott, great toave you on "the ed show." thanks so much. keep up the fit, my friend. oufopuanat new video and new scott brown. find out what this tape can tell us about the senator and his offensive tactics on the campaign trail. and republicans don't like reality, so they have created, i guess you could say, a very new realy wi a wcora theory, numerous ones, i might add, about the polls showing that president obama is in the lead. chris kofinis joins me next. stay with us.

[ chanting ] and we are back. we wish we could report republican senator scott brown is apologizing for the offensive race baiting during a rally on saturday. several of brown's staffers have been identified in this video

yelling war chants and doing the tomahawk chop. they're targeting brown's opponent, elizabeth warren. brown claims she lied about her native american heritage, but senator brown will not apologizeist rally. and this morning the principal chief of the cherokee naon issued a statement, demanding answ "i call upon senator brown to apologize for the offensive actions of his staff and their uneducated, unenlightened and racist portrayal of native peoples." just before 7:00 p.m. tonight, senator brown's spokesperson has released this stemen "senator brown has spoken to his entire staff and issued them their one and only warning that this type of conduct will not be tolerated. he regrets that members of his staff did not live up to the hightandards of the people of massachusetts pect rv my friends, may i point out, this is not exactly an apology. in fact, the state democratic party is circulating a new video which shows the raist chanting could be a normal part of the

brown campaign. >> wheofsor rrenes aklag s a native american, you know, she could have very easily just said, you know what, i'm sorry, made a mistake, it's something my family told me. >> here are the facts. scott brown is theepublican sweetheart in the most expensive senate re in the country. ati unist senator. and he is attacking his opponent on her ethnic background. the date, 2012. can you believe it? let's turn to boston city council member, eyanna pressle great to have you with us tonight. appreciate your time. owcagnmaging is th to to >> it needs to be very damaging. this, actually, i don't consider this to be race baiting, there's nothing coy, codified or couched about this. it's jt outright racist. but it is consistentith scott heenng sced. this is a tactic.

elizabeth warren has consistently campaigned on the facts and scott brown has consistently, personally attacked. and now his staff, and it's important underscore that, ese le w taxpayers overzealous pay their salary, who are on his payroll, who are supposed to be advising him on pocy, advocating for constituents. all eyes are on massachusetts with this senate race, and this >> what do you make of senator brown's statement to his staff? do you consider that an apology? does it go far enough? and what about the reaction of the cherokee chief? >> the reaction from the chief isppropriate, and certainly, not surprising. t n not ne far enough. you know, if affiliation and association were irrelevant, scott brown wouldn't continue to distance himself from mitt romney. i am a former -- before i was

elected to office, i was an aide to a united states senator. anit is fair to say that your ybua reflection on you. >> when he said, in the debate, that you could look at elizabeth warren and tell that she was not native american, i mean, i about fell over when i saw that. i mean, that plays right into the aron"shome y pelahe coversy we've had about that. what was your response to that? >> well, my response right now is that i don't have to be -i am a bla woman, but i'm not only offended by these remarks, as a black woman, i don't have to be native americato be offended. m ofndeds anmerin. sct brown isn't just a candidate. he is a sitting united states senator, and i want someone in that seat who subscribes to plurbis enum. out of many, we are one. this is a consistent tactic. i think east demonstrad inis voting record that he has sided with big oil and billionaires

d now i fear he's exposed that he'll si witbigo as ll. >> ayanna pressley, city council woman in boston, great to have you with us tonight, thanks so much. there's a lot more coming up in the next half hour "the ed on friday i looked at the real polling numbe ban ganiont n'me but i trust it. >> the romney campaign joins the growing number of republican poll truthers. >> and in every single one of them, they have a democratic voter participation that is higher than the participation in the electorate in 2008. >>p newel aiy their alternate reality is a fantasy land. and all of a sudden arizona is back in play for senate democrats. the republican lead in deep red arizona is shrinking. democratic candidate richard

cle rvieme tonig for an .

today we'll talk about the real poll numbers. the media is slating this myth that romney is in serious trouble. well, on friday i looked at the real poll numbers by an ganiont can'me but i trust it. >> welcome back to "the ed show." that was dick morris, at's right, talking about his super secret polling source more than a month ago. and it seems republicans are now working ha thaever to create the own reality. the conspiracy theories are reached fox news. >> well, if you look at the mainstream media, the big headline is, according to their polling, mitt romney is, what, five, six, seven, eight points behind barack obama right now. is that the same kind of polng rnguys fngh

>> hold it right there. he's complaining about all those mainstream media polls? but fox news' most recent poll had president obama up by five points over mi romney. here's ed gillespie of the romney campaign answering his queson. >> it is not consistent with our polling, stephen. i'm struck by a couple of things. number one, there are three swing state polls out today, and in every single one of them, they have a democratic voter participation that is higher than the participation in the electorate in 2008 iliecoin about something a lot of republicans have been complaining about as of late. they say democrats are being oversampled in all of these polls. by the way, the same fox news poll showed 42% identifying as democrats and 36 identifying as republicans. threical p has gotten new life because of a website claiming to fix all these incurate polls that are out there. it changes every national poll to fit the party breakdown used by scot rasmussen of rasmussen

ports. cannot compare partisan weighting from one polling firm to another. different firms ask about partisan affiliation in different ways." so even the republican pollster from the right debunks the idea that allhese national polls shou be tooled to fit s od let's bring in democratic strategist chris kofinis now. i think we've seen it all now. this is a heck of a sale job going on. the right wing is going full tilt on this, claiming all of these polls are oversampling democrats. have at it. >> even, for example, if you see e arntt sily you're going to have polls that are off, because that's the nature of polling, you're never going to have consistency across every poll. and if you say, you're right, there are some meth logical differences into models that different polls use to determine likely voters, tell me the poll where governor romney's ahead. anowthllre he's ahead in florida, show me

the poll where he's ahead in ohio. he's behind in almost every single battleground state, except potentially north carolina, d there are polls showing him hind there. rt oe lem rethat you can scream about public polling and how inaccurate it is. the reality is, no one believes, not even i think governor romney's campaign, believes they're ahead in any of these critical stas. >> here's reaugh and steve duschi on the conspiracy theory. >> they're hoping you stay home d don't vote. >> they're going to show present obama way up in the polls just to tamp down enthusiasm so republicans go, why even bother voting. is thbel media. dohemapaneo even respond to this garbage? >> i don't think they need to respond, but as democrats, i think we need to be very careful about being overconfident. this race is not like 2008, and

that's sometng that still ves a ltle ofse d concern. 2008, you knew it was over by mid-september, as soon as the financial crisis happened. it was basically destiny. you knew the president, you knew thathen senator obama was going to win. this one, i would say, the president is clearly in a strong position, but there are still baeinethiftwists here withhe governor romney has a good debate, he can change it, but the problem here is he's running a bad campaign. he's a bad candidate with bad policies, and how do you turn that around in one debate? i'm not sure it's possible. este nrs tis, gll he's banking on. they've got to be feeling good about their internal numbers. every campaign has internal numbers, you know how it is. how does he turn it around? we've played a big segment tonight on ohio. i think he had that mr. rowe on rkinmaoktr the hatn and the appease the problem when it came to the 47%. how does he turn this around? and where does he turn it

around? where does he really have to focus? >> here's what i think is interesting about this election. it started off, you know, as most elections do for incumbents, as a referendum. oit en icale a now it's become a referendum again, but not on president obama. it's become referendum on governor romney and his policies and his statements and his vision, and his just, i think, basic outlook for the country, for hard-working families. i'm not sureow he changes that. go ntatat because it rlly is the one defining moment that's left for him. he's got to go into that debate and show an empathetic side that we have not seen. he's got to show vision and substance that we ve not seen, and he's got to rock the president. and i don't believe any of those d e n'hetink of in one debate. death is going to materialize around this campaign. at that time, they're going to say, listen, he didn't win that debate. this is more or less over. >> all right. chris kofini great to have you with us tonight. appreciate your ti on "the ed show." coming up, now that the deadline has passed for todd akin to withdraw from his senate

race in miourilookth, some republicans are making peace and getting behind his campaign. will the rnc follow suit? st tuned.

coming up, the gop starts circling the wagons around todd akin. we'll show you who is coming up in support of the missouri senate candidate, next. izse cdaicrdh, carmona joins me to discuss his race for senate and the president's chances in the state this november. you can always listen to my radio show, i ask you to do that on sirius xm channel 127 monday through friday, noon to 3:00 p.m. and also on ogressive talk stnsune tr follow me on twitter @edshow and like "the ed show" on facebook. we're coming right back on "the ed show."

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welcome back to "the ed show." not to say that i told you so,

but i knew i was going to be doing this story before too long. since making national headlines with his legitimate rape comment, congressman todd akin has be walking a lonely road in the missouri senate race against claire maskill, the cumbent. toti rli, do they do? well, they urged him to step down. republican groups pulled funds from his race. last week, the chair of the rnc said akin won't receive any support from the party. but he continues to win the sut omg- republican rebels, i guess you could say. earlr this week, it was former house speaker newt gingrich. today, former presidential candidatri santorum in sou caro, d ser m demint t em esiki a and now that the deadline for akin to withdraw from the race has passed, it's looking like republicans may have no choice but to fall in line behind his campaign in a last-ditch effort to oust claire mccaskill and maybe grab the senate, which for some means they're just going to

have to do a flat-out 180. ser blwae he many politicians who publicly urged akin to get out of here. >> you know, i think it's a distraction and "the wall street journal" again this morning said todd needs to get out of this ce, because the things he's for are actually being held ba by all the focus on him and so ene'de >> but late tuesday night, just after the 5:00 p.m. deadline, blunt issued a statement announcing his support for the congressman. "congressman akin and i don't agree on everything, but he and i agree the senate majority must chan. unouus'l rnor romno e working for the republican ticket in missouri and that includes todd akin." doggone it. and blunt isn't the only one changing its tune. the senatorial campaign has 'rin srt g statementin which begs the question, will the republican national

committee, tt's you, reince priebus, right, would you follow it and embrace todd akin? come on. hong iit going to be before mitt romney flip-flops on this one? >> i can't defend what he said. i can't defend him. >> until when? tonight in our survey, i asked you, who will win ohio? 98% of you say president oba, 2% oyou y mittomy. coming up, new polling shows president obama gaining on mitt romney in the red state of arizona. plus, outgoing senator jon kyl's senate seat could be turning blue. we're going to be talking to democraticenate candidate trng to win his seat, . with us

and in the big finish tonight, the red state of arizona could be changing colors. new polling from purple strategies shows mitt romney with only a three-point lead over president obama. back in 2008, the obama campaign thought they had a shot at arizona if senator john mccain hat oe of ticket. there is also a open senate seat in the state of arizona that is now in play. outgoing republican senator jon kyl's seat could be turning from red to blue. the republican candidate for senate is congressman jeff flake. he leads democrat challeng richard caona by only one point in a carmona campaign internal poll.

now, congressman flake is a typical republican in speaker boehner's failing house of representatives. he wants to repeal obama care, the affordable ce ac he's aia n'gh e-sex marriage, he's choose, and the icing on the cake, he voted for paul ryan's, what some people call, immoral budget that completely guts medicaid and dismantles the social safety net in america. his opponent, former george w. bushurgeon general, richard ons ng oit approach. >> it's reprehensible to think that the contract that we have with our seniors through medicare or soci security is going to be cut. that doesn't make any sense. these are not entitlements. these e, in fact, instments. so i think that's the wrong thing to do. >> meanwhile, flake is trying to tie carmona to president obama. >> ricrd carmona was recruited by barack obama. jeff flake is supported by jon

kyl anjohn mccain. carmona is for obama's health care law. flake's against obama's health care law. >> joining me now is dr. richard carmona, democratic candidate for senate in arizona and the former surgeon general of the united states. ea hyore on "the you ed show" tonight. i'll go right to it. health care is in your wheelhouse. you are the expert. he's going after you, your opponent's going after you on obama care. but you have been critical of health care general on both sides. e oundal this? >> well, as surgeon general, ed, i was very career, and i still feel the same way, as a physician, as a professor, when i responsibility for the nation's health. it was a real problem that our nation didn't have a system that provided access to health care for all, and we need a robust busine plato bableo sut . so that's where i stand and i'll never waiver from the fact that i believe that every american should have access to a basic

set of health care benefits. >> well, you've got a lot of senior citizens in the state of arizona. how do you play with them and is this going to be your ticket? >> well, i don't have any specific ticket. mei bonaf lo hisry oserve. having been a policeman, having been a soldier, having been a combat soldier, u.s. army special forces, having been a surgeon general of the united states, a professor at a university. so all of these things are really things that i have worked with all my life and i've d thpriveg s. >> senate seats don't open up too often in the state of arizona. in fact, there's only been ten senators in arizona's 100-year history. why do you think you have a shot at this one? >> i think i have a good shot. in the last ten months as i've been running for the u.s. d enave onraveled thstat to native americans on the reservation, to business people, to bankers. most of the people i speak to are very unhappy with the lack of leadership that jeff flake has shown in his position as a congressman. businessmen tell me time and time again that he's against

everything andorothi heotli to ro. he tes extreme positions. so i think they're desperate for real leadership. and i can provide that leadership for them. >> and there's a third party libertarian candidate. is this going to help you? >> i don't know. i haven't rely thoug about t e fact is that working real hard, staying positive on my messages, showing the public the differences between congressman flake and i, and we're tied, and no one ever expected that to happen. i'm ry pleased with the team i put together that's taught me to be a good candide. >> and we know in the past year, the state of arizona has bn giioencomes to versaon a immigration. the show me your papers law, all of the controversy that surrounded all of that. immigration reform, hot in your state. how do you differ from congressmaflake on this issue? >> well, i can tell you how i feel about it very simply. thobisgranke has changed multiple tim, especially after he decided to become a senator. you know, he ran a very tough primary and you have to move far

tohe right and now he's trying to show people he's a moderate, which he really isn't. i've been steadfast in my beliefs as the suron general tht e a t ted states and aft. in not disadvantaging the children and allowing us to have a dream act. i still believe that's the path forward. it's the mt reasonable way to settle this divisive bate that br nlu tmen public. >> i want to get back to health care. that's your strength and you're the expert oit. do you believe in universal health care? do you believe every american should have it? >> as i said in the oping remarks, i believe every american suld have access to a amy tarketplace, h care i'm okay with competition. in fact, if you look at almost every plan in the last few years and what we do in our states now, what we call acuntable care organizations. let's measure what wdo. let's make everybody more accountable. les get quality care at the least cost, but let'make sure evercitin haceo